Pere IV of Aragon

Pere IV of Aragon (5 September 1319-6 January 1387), also called Peter or Pedro, was the king of Aragon from 24 January 1336 to 6 January 1387, succeeding Alfonso IV of Aragon and preceding Joan I of Aragon.

Biography
Pere was born on 5 September 1319 to King Alfonso IV of Aragon and Teresa d'Entenca, coming from the Catholic Catalan House of Barcelona. On 24 January 1336, his father died, and Pere broke the tradition set by Pere II of Aragon by crowning himself rather than having the Archbishop of Zaragoza crown him. In May 1339 he allied with King Alfonso XI of Castile against the Marinids of Morocco, but his fleet had no effect at the Battle of Saulty River in October 1340. Pere also conquered Majorca in 1344 from his brother-in-law James III of Majorca, who married his sister Constance. The same year, he helped in the capture of Algeciras, and he defended against a Moroccan counterattack during the fifth siege of Gibraltar in 1349.

Pere had no male issue, and his brother James I of Urgell was the heir presumptive to the throne; Pere decided to again break tradition and name his daughter Constance of Aragon his successor, although she was a female. Rebellions broke out against Pere, and Pere had James poisoned, weakening the Union of Aragon. On 21 July 1348 he won the Battle of Epila against the Union, and he proceeded to Zaragoza, where he executed 13 leaders of the union. When he took Valencia, he had the bell used for meetings of the union melted down and poured down the throats of the union leaders. In 1356, Pere fought Peter of Castile in the War of the Two Peters, ending in 1375 with an inconclusive treaty that came out of a series of natural disasters and the Black Death. In 1381 he became the Duke of Athens, although a year after his death the Florentine House of Acciaioli took power in Athens. He died in 1387.